Jewelry



' April '29, 1941. H. E, KRIEKE 2,240,247

JEWELRY Filed July 18, 1940 4 INVENTOR ATT RNEYS Patented Apr. 29, 1941prep STATES P FEQE rear

JEWELRY Application July 18, 1940, Serial No. 346,134

v l Claims.

This invention relates to jewelry having a cameo design of differentmaterial than the base upon whichthe cameo is placed.

For many centuries a Well known form of jewelry has consisted of .aring. or other article, usually of metal, in which is set a stone carvedin cameo with an appropriate design. Because of the expense and rarityof suitable stones for forming such cameos, and the time and skillnecessary to carve them, it has been suggested to form the carvedportion (cameo head) of such a cameo separately and then attach this toa suitable stone or other base, the latter usually being of acontrasting material and color. The attachrnent is by means of a hollowpost welded,

soldered or otherwise attached to the under surface of the cameo head,passing through the base, and flared outwardly on the under side of thebase. In such a construction, the cameo head may not actually be carvedbut may be cast or otherwise formed in metal, such as gold. In order toconserve on cost, such a cameo head is preferably hollow. This, however,suffers from several disadvantages. For example, when the article ofjewelry or the hand of the wearer is washed, water tends to get underthe hollow cameo head without being easily removable, and to seep outonly at inopportune times long after the washing takes place.Furthermore, the metal' cameo head tends to loosen and rotate around thehollow post by which it is attached to the base.

It is an object of this invention to provide an article of jewelry witha metal cameo head of novel and. improved design. It is another objectto provide such an article of jewelry in which there is no tendency forwater to be trapped between the cameo head and the base. A furtherobject is to prevent movement of the cameo head relative to the base.Other objects will appear hereinafter.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a ring showing one embodiment of theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a View taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side view showing the separate elements of the device beforeit is put together;

Fig. 4 is a view taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 illustrates a modified form of the invention, corresponding toFig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, a hollow piece Ill preferably of gold,platinum or other noble metal is cast with an appropriate design on itsouter surface. To the under surface of the piece It] The under surfaceof there is soldered or Welded a hollow post l2 which may be of basemetal. Into the hollow under portion of the piece ii! there is fitted acomplementary piece it whose upper contours conform nearly as possibleto the under surface of the piece l6, and provided with a central holeI4. the piece i 3 projects beyond the lower edge l of the piece it] andis sloped inwardly, as shown at E5. The final element of the structureis the base piece it, which is preferably of natural or synthetic orimitation stone, provided with a central hole H.

In forming the elements into a unitary structure, the post 12 passesthrough the holes l4 and ll. After the three pieces l0, l3 and I6 areforced tightly against each other, the post i2 is flared outwardslightly, as shown at I8, on the under surface of the piece l6, thuspermanently preventing disengagement of the pieces. The post i2 ispreferably cylindrical because of ease of manufacture and preferablyhollow in order to facilitate flaring at its lower end, but it may undercertain conditions be solid or of a shape other than cylindrical.

As shown in Fig. 2, this structure exhibits a novel and interestingappearance. The cameo head gives the effect of a solid piece of metal,raised somewhat from the surface of the base I6.

,At the same time, there is no hollow portion in which water may beentrapped. Since the sloped surface l5 of the piece i3 is hiddensomewhat and is in the shade, it makes no particular difference out ofwhat it is made, and may in fact be of quite inexpensive material.Preferably it is plastic material, such as a synthetic resin orcellulose derivative, easily moldable into the required shape. It may bepreformed or it may be molded by being forced into the hollow portion ofthe piece It] while in a softened or semisoftened condition, thesoftening being effected by any well known means such as heat orsolvents. It may be actually adhered to the piece M, but preferably theelements Ill and [3 are held together because of the closeness of theirfit and the fact that all the elements are forced against each other, asshown hereinabove.

In order to prevent relative movement between the pieces H3 and I5, theunder surface of the piece it is provided with one or more projectionsl9 fitting into corresponding recesses 20 in piece IS. Instead of thisarrangement, the projections may be provided on the piece It and therecesses on the piece l3. In the form shown in Fig. 5, on the otherhand, relative movement is prevented by means of two hollow posts l2instead of one.

As many variations are possible within the scope of this invention, itis not intended to be limited except as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An article of jewelry comprising a base piece, a metal piece providedwith an appropriate design on its upper surface and hollowed out on itsunder surface, a piece of plastic material fitting snugly into thehollowed portion of said metal piece, said plastic piece projectingbeyond the lower edge of said metal piece and sloping inwardly from saidlower edge, and a post attached to said metal piece and passingsuccessively through said plastic piece and said base piece and flaredoutwardly on the under surface of said base piece.

2. An article of jewelry comprising a base piece, a metal piece providedwith an appropriate design on its upper surface and hollowed out on itsunder surface, a piece of plastic material fitting snugly into thehollowed portion of said metal piece, said plastic piece projectingbeyond the lower edge of said metal piece and sloping inwardly from saidlower edge, a post attached to said metal piece and passing successivelythrough said plastic piece and said base piece and flared outwardly onthe under surface of said base piece, and means for preventing relativemovement between said base piece and said metal piece.

3. An article of jewelry comprising a base piece, a metal piece providedwith an appropriate design on its upper surface and hollowed out on itsunder surface, a piece of plastic material fitting snugly into thehollowed portion of said metal piece, said plastic piece projectingbeyond .the lower edge of said metal piece and sloping inwardly fromsaid lower edge, a post attached to said metal piece and passingsuccessively through said plastic piece and said base piece and flaredoutwardly on the under surface of said base piece, and interlockingprojections and recesses on said base piece and said plastic piece.

4. An article of jewelry comprising a base piece, a metal piece providedwith an appropriate design on its upper surface and hollowed out on itsunder surface, a piece of plastic material fitting snugly into thehollowed portion of said metal piece, said plastic piece projectingbeyond the lower edge of said metal piece and sloping inwardly from saidlower edge, and a plurality of posts attached to said metal piece andpassing successively through said plastic piece and said base piece, atleast one of said posts being flared outwardly on the under surf-ace ofsaid base piece.

HARRY E. KRIEKE.

